Chapter 6 - THE PROXY SIGNED BY A DEAD WOMAN
Forensic examination confirmed Eleanor’s proxy signature was copied from an older partnership agreement.
Digital assembly.
Not handwritten original.
Who created it?
Metadata pointed to a Bennett Heritage legal assistant.
She had retired.
Investigators contacted her.
Her name was Susan Park.
Seventy-one.
She remembered.
Harold brought her a signed page and told her to attach it to a revised proxy.
She did.
Did she know Eleanor was dead?
“Yes.”
Why did she do it?
“Mr. Bennett said the family had already agreed.”
Which family?
Susan did not know.
Then she said:
“Daniel was there.”
Susan remembered more after taking a break.
Daniel had not simply been in the room.
He had asked:
“What happens if Claire ever claims the shares?”
Harold answered:
“She won’t.”
Daniel:
“How do you know?”
Harold:
“Because she trusts you.”
Claire stopped breathing when she heard that.
Maya paused the recorded interview.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Want to stop?”
“No.”
Susan continued.
Daniel laughed awkwardly after Harold’s remark.
Not approval necessarily.
Not objection either.
Then Susan said Daniel later asked whether marrying Claire would create “automatic family consolidation.”
Harold told him:
“Not legally. Practically.”
There.
Harold understood the difference.
Legal ownership versus practical control.
Marriage would not erase Claire’s shares.
But it could make her easier to influence.
Claire whispered:
“He knew I was useful.”
Maya answered:
“He may also have loved you.”
Claire looked furious.
“I know.”
That was the problem.
If Daniel had married only for shares, she could hate him cleanly.
If he loved her and still let her trust become a business convenience, the betrayal was much harder to classify.
Claire stopped breathing.
Daniel.
Twenty-nine then.
Already dating Claire.
He had been in the room when Harold used Eleanor’s dead signature.
Claire asked:
“Did he know what it was?”
Susan hesitated.
“He asked whether Claire needed to sign anything.”
Harold answered:
“Not if you marry her.”
There.
Not a confession of conspiracy.
But a sentence heavy enough to change everything.
Claire cried after hearing it.
Not because Daniel’s love was proven false.
Because it was no longer clean.
Then Daniel called from his attorney’s office.
He wanted to explain.
Claire refused.
Later, she listened through lawyers.
Daniel said he thought Harold meant marriage would consolidate family interests legally.
He did not understand the proxy was forged.
Maybe.
Then why stay silent for five years?
Daniel answered:
“I forgot.”
May you like
Claire laughed.
Some memories become impossible to forget once they cost millions.
